page_title: Koreatown
section_title: Japan
hierarchical_section_title: Koreatown / Locations / East Asia / Japan
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: キムチの店（大阪市東成区東小橋3-15-1、鶴橋駅最寄り、鶴橋商店街にある「チェ おばさんのキムチ 崔」[1]
context_page_description: A Koreatown, also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula.
context_section_description: During the Korea under Japanese rule, approximately 2.4 million ethnic Koreans emigrated to Japan. Some for economic reasons, and some were forced to move during the Second World War to work as laborers. While most departed after the war, still many chose to remain, and were joined in the 1950s by a wave of refugees from Jeju Island. Today, Koreans, known as Zainichi Koreans (Korean: 재일조선인 Chaeilchosŏnin/Jaeil-Joseon-in, who on paper retain the nationality of the old Korea) or Zainichi Koreans (Korean: 재일한국인 Chaeil-han-guk-in/Jaeil Hangug-in, who have adopted South Korean nationality), are the largest ethnic minority in Japan, amounting to 620,000 in 2002. Those with North Korean ties are a key source of remittances to North Korea. There is a separate group of more recent migrants from South Korea with strong links to their home country, and there is a considerable cultural gap between these so-called "newcomers" and the Zainichi Koreans.
caption: A kimchi shop in Tsuruhashi, Osaka
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